Chip kellys contract?

Chip Kelly gets $32.5 million contract from Eagles, according to report Chip Kelly's contract is for five years and worth a reported $32.5 (Photo by Photo by Rich Schultz/Getty Images) By Jordan Raanan, NJ.comSouth Jersey Newspaperson January 21, 2013 at 12:47 AM, updated January 21, 2013 at 12:58 AM Print

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The Eagles desperately wanted Chip Kelly as their head coach. He didn't come cheaply however.

Kelly, the former coach at Oregon, comes with a hefty price tag. He received a five-year deal worth $32.5 million from the Eagles, according to ESPN's Adam Schefter.

That's $6.5 million per year. And while the five years was expected, the $6.5 million is a little more than expected.

The deal makes Kelly the sixth or seventh-highest paid NFL head coach. Only Bill Belichick ($7.5 million), Mike Shanahan ($7 million), Jeff Fisher ($7 million), Pete Carroll ($7 million) and Tom Coughlin ($6.7 million) make more per season. Sean Payton also recently received a new deal and Andy Reid made $5.5 million to coach the Eagles in 2012. Reid was hired by the Chiefs earlier this month. The financial details of his contract were not disclosed.

In comparison to Kelly's large haul, Greg Schiano received a five-year, $15 million deal when he bolted Rutgers for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers last year. Kelly came close to taking that job before deciding at the last second to return to Oregon.

Kelly made a $3.5 million base salary last season at Oregon. That doesn't however include incentives plus any Nike/Phil Knight-related bonuses. It's believed that Kelly's compensation package was set to increase when he originally elected to remain with the Ducks, before changing his mind and coming to Philadelphia.

There was never any doubt the Eagles had to pay in order to lure Kelly to the NFL. The Browns and Bills were also interested in his services. More suitors always means more money.

And there was no way Kelly was going to take a pay cut. So apparently to pull him to the NFL the magic number was $6.5 million per.

That's probably around market value for a college coach with Kelly's credentials considering Carroll is getting paid $7 million. Carroll made the similar jump in 2010, albeit after an even more successful run at USC and significant pro head coaching experience.

Kelly's deal with the Eagles puts him ahead of some pretty successful head coaches, some (Mike Tomlin and Mike McCarthy) who have won Super Bowls. The way the Eagles constructed the deal likely protects them financially if Kelly decides to leave (a la Nick Saban, Bobby Petrino or Steve Spurrier) before the conclusion of his deal.

"We constructed the contract exactly the way we wanted to construct it as an organization," owner Jeffrey Lurie said. "Chip was willing to go along with how we wanted the contract to be."

Sure, as long as it meant he was going to get paid $6.5 million every year until the end of 2017.

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